You may consider switching your car insurance under these 3 scenarios

There are 22 companies in India providing a variety of motor insurance plans. So, spend some time on searching the right plan for your vehicle.

Tarun Mathur

The good thing about motor insurance is that if you are not happy with your current insurer, you can change it around the time of existing policy expiry date without losing No Claim Bonus (NCB) and without any additional documentation unlike, health insurance portability where a good amount of documentation is required with higher processing time. Keeping pace with the advancement in the automobile industry, insurers also keep revising their products and that might also give you an opportunity to upgrade your policy from time to time. There are 22 companies in India providing a variety of motor insurance plans. So, spend some time on searching the right plan for your vehicle. A comprehensive motor insurance plan has two components - Third Party and Own Damage. Third Party insurance premium is regularized by IRDAI and is fixed. The Own Damage part has various sub-components and that majorly differentiates the product from one another and premium that you pay. The following scenarios may help you to make up your mind on whether to switch your insurer:

Unsatisfactory Service

It is often noticed that after due diligence you buy the best-suited policy but when you start making an insurance claim you realize you have made a mistake as the insurer doesn’t have the nearby Garage in the cashless network list or takes quite a bit of time to accept your claim, and thus the claim reimbursement taking a longer duration. This is seen as one of the main reason for some customers changing their insurer at the time of renewal. However, in order to choose an insurer, you should look for the following factors, of course, besides selecting necessary insurance coverage/add-on’s: One, the insurer should have a good online presence with details available at the touch of a button and a mobile App which can be handy in case of any issue. Second, it should have a number of garages in its network in different parts of the city. This is important because if you get your vehicle repaired from a garage which is not in the insurer’s network, you will have to make the payment to the garage and then get the amount reimbursed, which may take time.

Availability of a better deal

A thumb rule of insurance says that you should look beyond premium and grab the best protection plan available in the market. If you do not have a complete plan, with all the essential add-ons, then your priority must be to purchase a plan which can be helpful once you meet an accident as a plain motor insurance policy does not cover all the risks which pose threat to your vehicle. At times, you may already have the policy with all add-ons like zero depreciation, invoice protection, engine protector etc., but it is still recommended to check for options and you might find a similar policy at a lower price and save some money.

Insured Declared Value

Insured Declared Value (IDV) is the sum assured that you will get in case of theft or total loss of your car in an accident. The IDV is worked out as per IRDAI guidelines taking into account age of the car and insurance premium majorly depends on the same. Hence, IDV is the value of your car and you should try to get the optimum value. In order to pay a lesser premium, you may be tempted to settle for a lower IDV. But in the case of an accident, you will suffer loss as the total coverage may not be enough to pay off the total repair bill amount. For example, for a Mahindra XUV W 10 to be registered in Delhi, IDV offered by various insurers varies from Rs.13 Lakh to 19 Lakh. So, it is advisable to go for the optimal IDV as that will provide protection to any major loss in future such as theft. In case, your current insurer is limiting you to an IDV which is lower than the fair value of the vehicle, then you may want to check for options.